Woman Gives Birth to Baby Born from Ovary Frozen in Her Childhood

A Belgian woman became the first in the world to give birth to a healthy baby boy by using a transplanted ovarian tissue that was frozen when she was a child.

The now 27-year-old woman had an ovary removed just before receiving treatment for sickle cell anaemia. She was 13 at the time.

The mother who has chosen to remain anonymous was diagnosed with the condition when she was 5. Her condition was so severe that doctors had to resort to a bone marrow transplant using her brothers matching tissue.

Before the transplant however, she had to undergo chemotherapy to disable her immune system so that her body would stop from rejecting the foreign tissue.

Since chemotherapy is known to destroy ovaries, the doctors decided to remove her right ovary and then froze the tissue fragments. Her remaining ovarian function however failed by the time she turned 15.

A decade later when she wanted to have a baby, the doctors thawed out the frozen tissues and grafted it onto her remaining ovary. The patients then started menstruating with 5 months and conceived naturally at 27.

Gynaecologist, Dr Isabelle Demeestere who led the treatment spoke about how the patients went through a stressful time during the course the procedure since this was her only option to have a child. The doctor then goes on to add that she "is of course very happy and is enjoying her new life".

Dr Isabelle Demeestere is now hopeful that the procedure could be used for women who are facing a high risk of ovarian failure. These include patients who survive treatments for conditions like leukimia, lymphoma and sarcoma.

"However, the success of this procedure requires further investigation in very young pre-pubertal girls, as our patient had already started puberty even though she had not started menstruating," she explained.